Suspension of high-tension lines.



SUSPENSION OF HIGH. TENSION LINES.

.APPLIOATIOK F ILED OUT. 31, 1907.

Patentd June 22, 1909.

|N V\/ ENTERS HARULU W. BUCK.

WITNESSES; f

EDWARD M. HEWLETT. 5 MM mx m.

" certain new and useful Im the number of such UNITED STATES PATENTo'EEIoEf HAROLD w; BUCK,-OF NEW YORK, AN 1) EDWARD ASSIGNORS TO GENERALELEcTRIo To all'whom it may concern:

Be it known that We,-HAROLD W Buck and EDWARD M. 'HEWLETT, citizens ofthe United States, residing, York, county of New York, State of NewYork, and at Schenectady, county of Schenectady, State of New York, haveinvented I rovemcnts in Suspension of HighrTension ines, of which thefollowing is a specification.

The present invention relates to overhead suspension of electricconductors and more especially to conductors of'power circuits of highpotentials from 60,000 to 100,000 volts.

Heretofore it has been the standard practice to provide the poles -orcross arms with ins upon which were placed vertical insu- EttOIS towhich the conductors were directly and rigidly attached. Theseinsulators,-in order to adapt them for use with high potential circuits,were made up by superposinga plurality of petticoats one a ove theother, petticoats varying with the voltages of the currents,and'accordingly the insulators for use with high potential circuits werenecessarily of large dimensions,

the dimensions varying with the cube of the potential above 60,000volts. Besides being expensive, these old forms of insulators were obectionable on account of the leverage strains which-any side motion ofthe conductor imposed thereon. Moreover, when exposed to heavy rain, theflow of water from one petticoat to the nextprovided a low resistancepath for the current between the conductor andtower. Where the conductorwire is rigidly attached to the insulator, as has been the racticeheretofore, it soon becomes crystallized-near the point of attach- Inentdue to the swaying of the conductor s an under the influence of thewind. Furtliermore'it has been the practice to support a conductor inshort spans in order to reheve the insulators of the excessive leveragestrains, and as a consequence a large number of expensive poles ortowers have been necessary.

The object of this invention is to provide a system of suspensionwhereby a high potential conductor may be efiectu ally and reliably suported and insulated at a reasonable cost.

11 carrying out our invention, we do away with the usual insulators andtheirv pins and vertical series of insulators provide at certain of thesupporting towers a.

bly eoimected COMPANY, A CORPORATION Specification of Letters Patent.Application filed 0ctober,31, 1907. Serial No. 400,125.

respectively, at New pended conductors.

-dle thereof, each M. HEWLETT, OF SOHENECTADY, NEW YORK,

OF NEW YORK.

SUSPENSHION or men-Tension LINES.

Patented June 22, 1909,

to each other and attacherhby a hooked joint at the upper end totheunder side of a cross arm of the tower and at the lower end by an earor other suitable connection to the sus- At certain other-"towels theconductor, is dead" ended through a horizontal series of flexiblyconnected insulators on'each'side of the cross arm and a jumperconnection joins the dead'ends of the con-' ductor and hangs frcelybygravity below the cross arm. The dead ending of the conductor will occurat anglesin the conductor iii-order to takethe side stress due to changein direction thereof, and is preferably used at least at every fourth orfifth tower on tan ents or straight sections in ordertopreventdongitudinal waves of the conductor. due to wind.

The dead ended arrangement may be employed at all points of suspensionwhere preferred, but the construction illustrated herein has advantages.

For a more complete understanding of our lowing detailed description andthe accorn panying drawing forming a part of this specification, inwhich- Figure 1 is a perspective view showing invention, reference maybe had to the folthree conducting wires and theupper portion of twosupporting towers, the conductors beingdead ended at the left-hand towerand carried by vertical series of insulators at the scale a verticalseries of insulators; and Fig. 3 is a similar view of a'horizontalseries of insulators.

The towers are preferably made of iron on account of their greaterstrength and facility of transportation. As shown in the drawing,they'carry .at their tops or near their to s horizontalpross arms 1secured by s'uitabiia means 2 to the main struts 3, and'toeach of thecross arms 1 are right-hand tower; Fig. 2 shows on a larger permanence,

connected iron rings 4 near the ends and midring being provided with oneor more eyes 5 according as they are designed to receive verticalinsulator connections as'shown at the right-hand tower, Fig. 1, or deadend insulator connections as shown at the left-hand tower.

The conductor wires 6 are shown at the ri ht-hand tower, Fig. 1',provided with ears 7 aving eyes 8 at their up er edges through whichflexible bands or cab es 9 are threaded; At the upper ends of the band 9is a link insulator 10 through which the band is thread- This verticalarrangement permits. a great ed, and above the'insulator 10 is a secondhand or cable 11 connecting'the first link insulator 10 with the secondlink insular tor 12, and at the upper side of link insulator 12isanother band or cable 13 threaded therethrough and having at its upperportion, a hook 14 adapted to engage an eye carried by the cross arm 1.sulators and 12 are shown, it is to be understood that any desirednumber may be connected in seriesto provide for any voltage.

freedom of movement of the conductors with I the left-hand tower of Fig.'1, the conductor the conductor wire at its point of suspension, andcrystallization of its metal is thereby entirely prevented. Moreover,-by reason of theiron towers projecting above the level of the wires, anylightning disturbances will be transmitted to ground through the towersand will not be taken by the conductor wires.

In the dead ended arrangement shown'at one of the eyes 5 carried bythe-cross arm of the tower. This arrangement is duplicated ontheopposite side of theoross arm to dead I end the op osite span, and'ajuinper connection 21, w ichmay be either a continuation of theconductor wire 6 01 an independent wire", extends from the clamp 15 onone side of the cross arm to the corresponding clamp on the other sideandhangs freely by ravitybeneath the cross arm." This dead on ingarrangement is such that a longitudinal movemerit of a wire under thewave action produced by thewind isieiiectually resisted.

Also any horizontal stress due to the angu larity in the course of thewire is, rovided for.

Each-of the vertical link insu-ators 10 ahd '12,. as ShOwn'indetaiIiii'Fig. 2, consists of a diskportion 22 having ,its center enlarged andprov ided-., with interlinking portions 23 and 24; with a solid wall ofinsu'lition between them, so that when the fiexiple bandsor cables 9, 11and 13 are threaded there through, the current cannot pass from one totheoth erwithout actual uncturing of the insulating material. The owersurface of the insulator has an outwardly flaring flange 25 which actsto increase the creepage sur-' face and. maintains the main portion ofthe lower disk surface dry. The flexible bands .0! cables have theirfree ends joined b suitable clamps 26. linli insulators, as shown inFig. 3-,,have a disk,

The horizontal.

portion 22 with an enlarged central portion While only two link inthrough which they extend from opposite directions to curved apertures23 and 24 which interlink and have a solid wall of insulation betweenthem, and at the periphery of the disk are two oppositely flaringflanges 26 whereby the peripheral trough is formed by their outersurfaces. This arrangement is' such that from whichever direction therain strikes the insulator, it will be deflected from the sheltered sideso that thelatter will 7 5 remain dry and the liability of the currentto pass thereover will effectually be prevented. It will therefore beseen that by reason of the interlocking of the several insulators 1 intoa series or chain any potential can be carried thereby in safety. 7 Ifby reason of. structural or electrical weakness of any in 'sulatingunit, one or more insulator walls should break down, the efiiciency oftrans mission remains unimpaired since the interlinked metal loops holdthe line almost as taut as before. If a suspension insulator should bepunctured through electrical weakness or y reason of'mechanical blows ordamage, 'the other ins'ultors of the chain will remain intact or if b anextraordinary by Letters Patent of the United States, -is,'-

1. In a system of high tension line sus en sion, thecombination ofperiodically cad ended spans joined by 'umper' connections, andintervening spans reely suspended beneath cross arms of the supportingtowers.

2. In a system of suspension forhigh tension power circuits, thecombination of con ductor spans dead ended at the cross arm through twochainsof insulators flexibly connected to each other and to the crossarm, and a 'umper connection'between the adjacent on s of the s ans andhanging freely by gravity beneath t e cross arm.

3. In a system of high tension line sus ension, the combination oferiodic spans dhad ended on opposite sides o a cross arm or supportthrough series of insulators flexibly connected and electricallyconnected bydepend mg umper wires, and intervening s ans freelysuspended beneath cross arms .0 the Z dry some part of its surface inthe path .of'

possible electric discharge irrespective ofthe direction of thebeating'rain, and means for flexibly connecting said series ofinsulatorsto the cross arm and to the line wire.

6."In a system of high tension line suspension, the combination oftowers provided with cross arms, of conductor spans freely sus endedbeneath said cross arms by series of exibly connected disk insulators.

7. A high potential power transmission llne having at intervals betweenits terminals a chainof insulators, each unit of which is mechanicallyinterlinked with the adjacent one and the terminal units secured to theline, metallic jumper connections around I each chem 'to'complete themetallic contiunity of the line-,and a chain of similarly interlinkedinsulators at the points of support for the purpose described. 8. A highotential power transmission line having at intervals between itsterminals a chain of insulators, each unit of which is mechanicallyinterlinked with the adjacent one, and a chain of similarly interlinkedinsulators at the several points of support,

each insulator unit being provided w1th a rain shed to preserve dry someart of its surface in the path of ossi ble'e ctric discharge,irrespective of t c direction of beatin I'BJIL n Witness whereof, BUCKhas hereunto set his hand this 26 day of October, 1907, andHEWLETT hashereunto set his hand this 29th day of October, 1907.

' HAROLD W. BUCK. EDWARD" M. HEWLETT. Witnesses toBuck: v

. i O. A. HAVILL, A. BAR'rson, Witnesses to Hewlett:

BENJAMIIQIY B. HULL, HELEN Onronn.

